Coincheck Confirms Crypto Hack Loss Larger than Mt Gox

Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has confirmed that it has suffered what appears to be the biggest hack in the history of the technology.

In a press conference at 23:30 JST (14:30 UST), the exchange's president Wakata Koichi Yoshihiro and chief operating officer Yusuke Otsuka estimated its loss at 58 billion yen (approx. $533 million). According to Bloomberg, which attended the conference, 500 million NEM tokens were taken from Coincheck's digital wallets.

But though the exact dollar figure for the incident is hard to pin down (given the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and the company's lack of information), data suggests the figure is now at least over $400 million, factoring for a decline in the value of XEM, the NEM protocol's token, following the incident.

At press time, the price of XEM was $0.85, down from a high of $1.01 today, according to data from Coinmarketcap.

Notably, the dollar amount stolen from Coincheck is likely greater than the amount stolen from Mt. Gox in 2014 (pegged at $340 million), though the impact on the cryptocurrency market will be much smaller given the immense increases in market capitalization since.

Rumors had been circulating about the theft since early this morning when Coincheck abruptly froze most of its services.

The firm announced on its website around 13:00 JST (04:00 UTC) that it had restricted deposits, trading and withdrawal of XEM, the token running on the NEM blockchain.

A wider suspension on withdrawals of all cryptocurrencies as well as Japanese yen was announced around 30 minutes later. In the following hour, trading of all cryptocurrencies was also restricted, except bitcoin. According to the latest update, other deposit methods including credit cards have also been stopped.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at news@coindesk.com.